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Florida primary 2012: Delegate dispute could drag on

The latest polls show a dead heat between Romney and Gingrich in Fla. | Reuters Photos

Like other RNC members, Simpson thinks the rules clearly bar Florida from being winner-take-all. At an RNC meeting in August, members of the Presidential Nominating and Selection Committee passed a resolution calling for the RNC to enforce its rules for proportional delegates on states like Florida that set primaries earlier than April.

"Florida ought to be proportional, and it is up to the RNC legal office to figure out how they do that. That was absolutely the intention when we wrote that rule," said Pete Ricketts, an RNC member from Nebraska who served on the RNC committee appointed in 2008 to draw up delegate selection rules for 2012.

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The party's primary rules were intended to encourage a longer primary season, while ensuring that four smaller states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — hold the first contests. Only those states were permitted to hold primaries or caucuses before March 6, the RNC decreed, while any state that held a contests prior to April 1 would award their delegates proportionally. Under the rules, any party that violated the sanctioned calendar would lose half its delegates and potentially face further penalties.

Republican leaders in Florida, determined to give the state a big say in picking the nominee, decided losing having its delegation slashed from 99 to 50 was worth it and set Florida's primary for Jan. 31. The RNC has said Florida will be a winner-take-all primary, but that decision is still subject to challenge.

Marc Cross, a GOP state committeeman from Osceola County, has already written to the RNC, urging them to review the matter, but the RNC has taken no action.

When that likely challenge comes up in August the committee should divide up Florida's delegates proportionally, said John Ryder, an RNC member from Tennessee who helped write the rules.

"It should bring the delegation in compliance with the RNC,'' he said. "When we come to Tampa next summer I'm sure the members of the state Legislature expect us to follow the laws of the state of Florida. And when the people of Florida come to the national convention they're expected to follow the rules of the RNC."

Back when Romney was poised to sail to the nomination and had a big lead in Florida, the delegate question looked like bureaucratic inside baseball.

Now, however, it looks like Florida could be close, the race could drag on, and Florida's delegates might actually be crucial.

Adam C. Smith writes for the Tampa Bay Times. The Tampa Bay Times and POLITICO are partnering to cover the 2012 presidential election.

Newt says things like this "Vulture Capitalist Mitt Romney bankrupts American Companies, ships American jobs to China, then gives a percentage of the profits and stocks to the Mormon Church and keeps the rest in the Cayman Islands."

This just shows that Newt is ANTI-CAPITALIST! Of course some people lose their jobs in Capitalism. That is because they are LAZY! If you lose your job, blame yourself, you should have worked harder! CEO's like Mitt have to make hard choices and fire lazy workers, or break up entire companies when needed to keep providing PROFIT to their shareholders.

This is what our Founding Fathers saw as the purpose of the United States - and to be against Profit is to be against America!

We need Mitt - he will shift the tax burden from job producers to the lazy poor where it belongs, he will fire the freeloaders on Socialist Security, he will liquidate the non-productive assets of the US - parks, forests, rangelands, highways, the Chinese and the Germans are land hungry and their free market policies have left them cash rich while we are cash poor - Mitt will change all that and get us back on the path to PROFIT!

very much agreed. It's going to be a race between romney and paul. I vote RP. By the way Neo-cons/Established Republicans...you're not going to beat Obama without Ron Paul. It's RP as GOP or Obama. Good luck!

South Carolina was also a Winner-Take-All, but it didn't/doesn't seem to matter to the GOP elite.

I thought the Democratic Party was undemocratic in the 2008 primary season when they stripped all delegates of Michigan and Florida - only to give them a arbitrary percentage of what they THOUGHT the citizens of those two states WOULD have voted if only Clinton and Obama were on the ticket.

It looks like the Republican Party is unrepublican now with a huge touch of being undemocratic too. They want to change the rules in the middle of the game (just like the 2008 Dems changing from stripping FL & MI of 100% and not the written 50% delegates) when the results are not what they were planning.

Let's face it. The GOP and Dem Elites are the ones who want to make the decision who runs for President. They don't want us peons to have a voice. They disregard our votes. They disregard our voices. They disregard our rights and our freedoms.

I do not get it ! Loyalty = Ron Paul . Wisdom of America and trust not to lie to the people to save a vote = Ron Paul .THE GOD FARTHER OF PEACE . why DO PEOPLE PICK A PRESIDENT OF OVER THE WORST OF WHAT WE HAVE AND NOT THE BEST OF WHAT WE HAVE ? RON PAUL 2012 . I am so confused over why People are brain washed to only see and hear the worst of what we have to offer as a leader and not the Man that has all at his best interest that would not lie to save a vote. when the best is right in front of our eyes .I DO NOT GET IT !

Anger is what is motivating the GOP/Tea Party base. Just look at their rallies. That's why Huntsman and Pawlenty had to drop out, not angry enough. Newt gets standing ovations attacking the press. People are ****ed off and they want some one to show that they to can pretend to be ****ed off.

Hey when natural diaster strikes in your area, don't go ask FEMA for help, just demand your tax cut. That's is the Paul we know. Look at how well Galveston did after the 1900 hurricane without government help. The city was the largest city in Texas after the hurricane, Houston became and is the largest city in Texas. Galveston now is just a tourist trap. I know I worked there.

Have a look at Ron Paul, voters of Florida. Some say that his ideas and philosophy are 200 years old. If that is a bad thing, then perhaps we should rewrite the Constitution. He is honest to a fault, and yes, some of his ideas should not be implemented, and, in fact, are not do-able. Fear not; he would not be king, and as of this writing, we still have checks and balances. And I cannot empha enough (and is asserted by all), he is h_o_n_e_s_t ! My opinion is that this country has been turned upside down. Steps must be taken now to put it back on track. Some of his ideas have nothing to do with the job that needs to be done to turn this country around. And I contend that he will be so busy with that aspect that there will be no room on his plate for fringe issues that clog American's good sense and replaces it with fear.

I am concerned for the preservation of freedom, economic health, and physical security for my Grandchildren and future generations. Any of the other candidates is a commitment to more of the same and in fact a guarantee that the hole will become deeper and deeper. Corporations have taken over this country's government! It is called Fascism. The only thing person-like about a corporation is that it can f**k (us).

Ron Paul said concerning the terrorist attacks of 9/11: "took place only because of U.S. aggression and military actions". U.S. philosophy for too long has been, "You have what we want. You cooperate or else", while the lies we hear are "WMD threat"; "they hate our freedom"; "they want our kind of freedom/democracy"; etc.

It is time for us to grow up and take responsibility for our fate without relying so heavily on, and meddling in, the rest of the world's business. Defense, not military aggression; healthcare by non-profit hospitals and insurance (it worked fine before corporations found out it was a real cash cow), clinics and charities; develop energy alternatives to fossil fuels; bring manufacturing back to this country; encourage and develop opportunities for top-notch education; develop more of an American community by being better neighbors to the countries south and north of us; etc. Our priorities have for too too long, been defined by the fascist corporations, whose interest is not the welfare of Our Country or the welfare of future generations, but only in the interest of stock holders and executives and in the power to call the shots.

I beg you, let's collectively insist on tending to the health and welfare of the community and less on individual priorities.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer discussed the decision (Citizens United super PAC) before the South Carolina bar, with Scalia telling opponents of the decision to just turn their TVs off if they didn’t like seeing all the negative ads. Are Americans stupid enough to swallow this solution. Negative ads are an aggravation and often dishonest. The real and dangerous problem is the nibbling away at our constitution. Mitt Romney said "corporations are people". The only thing "people" or people-like about corporations is that they can f**k (us). The wealthy corporations and billionaires that destroyed our economy and caused millions of us to lose our jobs and homes have now set their sights on a hostile takeover of our elections and our government. They are spending millions of dollars to elect and defeat candidates, and all that secret money could drown out the voices of voters like you and me. Other than Ron Paul, a vote for any of the candidates is a vote for no change, more of the same, digging the hole deeper and deeper. Can you imagine, President Mitt Stepford and First Lady Ann Stepford? Romney will whittle away our constitution: would have signed NDAA, with power to suspend Habeas Corpus; he nor his sons ever served in the military but he advocates sending our volunteer forces to illegal, undeclared and potential wars; he is beholding to Super PACs and corporations (Fascists) who pay for elections and keep this country in a state of illegal undeclared war and state of fear so that our constitution can be overridden by NDAA and Enemy Expatriation Act, etc. Lies when he asserts that he created 100,000 to 120,000 jobs by acquiring companies, counting as jobs he created those who already had and kept their jobs in those companies. During the debates, refused to answer questions by changing the subject and attacking his opponents' previous answers to a different question. Asserts that "Too few families are paying the price of freedom" though his own and his family's only payment is cheer leading: "It's remarkable how we can show our support for our nation, and one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected, because they think I'd be a great president" he boasted during his 2008 campaign. His five sons have not served in the military. Cheer leading for their father is supporting our nation? Then adding "My son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago and has visited 99 counties, most of them with his three kids and his wife. I respect that and respect all of those in the way they serve this great country." Nothing remarkable or respectable about it, just cowardly especially when young people are volunteering to fight in wars he asserts are necessary. He gives more money to his "cult" than he pays in taxes; hides his money in foreign countries to evade taxes. Romney has always lived in a bubble. His family is also in the bubble. They are clueless about what it means to live in the "real" world. Cheer leading is their contribution to "paying the price of freedom", while others' brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers volunteer to fight in wars. Romney is a hawk, eager to start a war with Iran. Willing to commit our volunteer forces to fight in Iran; to stay and fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. He himself evaded the draft by going on a Mormon missionary trip in France. France? Is that patriotic or service to our country? He took a couple of evasions to attend University. Who is a patriot and who is a narcissistic, money-grubbing, hoarding, power hungry, prevaricator. Ron Paul is the only Patriot running for President. Ron Paul is scrupulously honest. Ron Paul's only interest is the welfare of our country first, not the welfare of Fascists or any other special interests. U go guys for Ron Paul. Joanne Renshaw (60-yr-old life-long democrat for Ron Paul as President)_g